Tuesday 27 September 2011

Stop Procrastinating

So far I haven't written anything else for my drawing project, mostly because I haven't done anything yet! I initially had ideas I suppose about this wonderfully flowing blog that would show my every step of this project. But still I haven't actually started any drawing! I have a list of things, that, in my head I must do before I start the project, and the problem is this list just seems to keep growing.
It's not all bad though, I have now actually got decent pictures of my work, I have an online presence and I've applied for things that I have been meaning to for over a year now and all of this has lead to some positive stuff.
I have in some ways started the project, I have done some research, found some inspirational images, read up on different drawing practices and ideas and so on and so on! But let's face it I've just been procrastinating, and have been for over a year now. But as deadline loom nearer it's time to get on with it!
As for my blog, I need to get rid of the idea of this perfectly flowing form, like a story and start to learn to think aloud, as this is what will be most beneficial to me right now.
So here's hopping .....

Sunday 25 September 2011

A bit more of the old inspiration

The different styles of de Kooning and Picasso.



de Kooning




Picasso

And of course Paul Klee.................

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.



A Bit of Inspiration from some Old Master.


Paul Cezanne - Sloping trees

Georges Seurat - Nursemaid holding a child

Giovanni Battista Piranesi - View of the Portico of the Pantheon in Rome

Giambattista Tiepolo - Venus and Adonis

Antoine Coypel - Venus Crowned by Cupid

Rembrandt

Rubens



Leonardo da Vinci

Albrecht Durer - Left wing of a bird

Albrecht Durer

Giovanni Badile - Portrait of a boy in Profile

Jan Van Eyck - St.Barbara

Sandro Botticelli


Wednesday 21 September 2011

Start of a new project!

So it is over a year now since I graduated. I've done a bit of this and a bit of that, mostly trying to figure out what to do now! So after lots of trial and error, and ending up down a few to many dead ends, my head seems somewhat clearer about my way forward. So here I am, going right back to the beginning!

My Project:
 Learning to draw again and challenging the idea of what constitutes a drawing.
 I want to explore the importance of drawing, not just for the sake drawing but for all art practices. I want people to broaden their views to the meaning of ‘drawing’ and of what a drawing can be.
What set me onto the path of ‘learning to draw’ (again) was realizing I hadn’t actually drawn anything for a long time, even in my last year of university, so when I came to actually make some drawings they left a lot to be desired.
At first I will be using traditional drawing materials such as pencil and charcoal, possibly trying pen, I will then move into using other materials such as paint, digital and 3D to explore further what a drawing is.
To begin with I expect the process will be quite methodical, using pencil to create drawings in quite technical and accurate ways, for example measured drawings, working from photographs etc.
I will then move onto working with charcoal and hopefully the drawings will become looser and more expressive.

Lovely flower in a random place

Story of a dress.


Paper dancers is a collaboration between artists Jennifer Bennett and Vicky Lockwood, it was originally a project for Blackpool culture shops. The installation was made entirely from the Blackpool Gazette newspaper and was a celebration of Blackpool's ballroom herritage.


                                        
                                                                             



                                                   



Although most of the installation has been sent for recycling again, the ball gown went on to be displayed atBlott Artist Studios.



The dress was then modelled by the lovely Becky Davis, the photo shoot was a great success, producing some wonderful pictures that will be a permanent record of the dress.










The Dress then went on to be in a new installation at the show One Too Go.











                                                

                                            
 

The Dress now has a permant home at St Teresa's Primary School. 

Tuesday 13 September 2011

A Few Jazzy Numbers





Final Degree Work

This series of paintings are large in scale but their effect is that of watercolour, with a subtle appearance, that gives them a calming meditative effect. They are made up of subtle textures, built up with veil-like washes that 'stain' the canvas.
The paintings have been created using microscopic images that we are not overly familiar with, that have been blown up to a massive scale so they become totally removed from their original context, and cross referenced with a variety of familiar images creating a familiarity to the paintings where the viewer can 'see' something in them.
The calming, abstract feel of the paintings is what I see as the viewers initial reaction; it is then up to the viewer if they are to stay with this initial reaction and take the paintings at face value, or if they are to go further and understand what they are really about. How does this alter their original perception of the work and their feelings toward it? Moving from calming, delicate images to the realization that the paintings might be something somewhat more unsavory than first imaged.


                                                








.........and a few close up snaps